Spirit houses

The spirit houses of Thailand are everywhere.

I'm no expert on them, but what I understand is that most homes and businesses in Thailand (and it's neighboring countries) have one of these mini, temple-shaped buildings in an auspicious corner of the property.

The little house is to appease spirits that might otherwise trouble the people there, and so they give daily votive offerings and when they make changes or additions to their own homes or businesses, they also give an "upgrade" to the spirit house.

Since they are to be proportional to the size and wealth of the house, some of them are very elaborate.

Old ones go to a special spirit house "cemetery" so the spirits won't become angry.

One other Thai folklore tradition bit of trivia:
Wednesday is considered a very inauspicious day for a haircut.
Just so you know.

At the top of the mountain

A year ago (almost to the day), I traveled up the same mountain for a view of the city. It was the same view both times: fog and smog.
Next time I want to try it, I should go at a different time of year, perhaps.
But there were other things to see.
Bells.
Buddhas.
Buildings dripping with gold-ness.
I discovered a shifty-eyed buddha sitting among the many others.
And I liked the statue of the lady I saw last year just as much this year.
The best thing about the trip this time around, though, were groups of dancing little girls. They were fun to watch.

The last picture in this video is my favorite one of the day.

Sightseeing

It was raining today, but we decided to go out sightseeing anyway. We're in a very historical city; it's also very religiously and ethnically diverse.
We saw Hindu temples.
Islamic mosques

...and dargas.
Buddhist temples,
where people light gigantic incense sticks
and let birds go free after they pray.


The diversity makes for a very colorful city with lots for a sightseer to discover. The literal colors are also a pleasant change--they give the city character and aren't garish like those I'm used to seeing elsewhere.
I give a thumbs-up to Georgetown. :)

To see what we could see

We drove up a mountain to a very famous tourist spot where there was supposed to be a good view of the city.

The sky was hazy, though, and it looked more like the edge of the earth than an overview of the city.

Later we did sort of see what the view looked like.

And this is the famous temple on the mountain.

What else was there to see on top of the mountain?

Johannes behind the pillar.

Monks.

Chickens.

Crafty things to sell to tourists.

A giant bunch of bamboo which reminded me of asparagus.

And a lot of stairs.

(I took the elevator.)